Ransomware attacks have proven to be a significant threat to businesses in recent years, bringing the operations of several national-level companies to a halt and forcing them to choose between paying out millions of dollars to malicious hackers or spending significant sums on attack recovery. The healthcare industry is an especially inviting target, with attacks increasing 400% industry-wide in 2021 according to Gartner. With the stakes so high, it has never been more critical that healthcare businesses prepare to prevent, respond to, and recover from ransomware attacks. A major cybersecurity provider is teaming up with a well-known healthcare cybersecurity consulting firm to help enterprises do just that.
Sirius Healthcare, a leading provider of security consulting services for over 450 healthcare clients nationwide, as well as Semperis, a cybersecurity firm specializing in Active Directory resilience and recovery, are creating a joint ransomware task force focused on the healthcare industry. The team will assist healthcare companies in securing and recovering their Active Directory systems while continuing operations and mitigating the disruption of patient services. The market is ripe, with a 2021 survey of cybersecurity professionals revealing that healthcare businesses are among the most targeted by attackers and the least likely to have developed contingency plans, with Active Directory being a common attack vector.
According to the CTO of a large orthopedic practice that utilized Semperis’ services, “The biggest win wasn’t necessarily of a technical nature, it was that Semperis helped us become acutely aware of the world we were in and the risks we faced. They helped us understand the different phases of the attack and possible future attacks, and helped detect and shut down the hackers once they got in. Semperis knows exactly what to look for and has the tools to do it.”
The new team has already been delivering results, having responded to multiple incidents in the healthcare sector this year. With the average cost of recovering from a ransomware attack having more than doubled from 2020 to 2021, growing from $761,106 to $1.85 million, this new partnership comes at a crucial time for the healthcare industry. By helping clients prevent and rapidly respond to and recover from attacks, the task force will ensure the safety of patients and the continuity of critical business operations—while hopefully reducing the profitability of cybercrime campaigns.
